It’s Just Cool: ’36 Stainless Ford

If you think stainless steel is only good for kitchen appliances and Doc Brown’s home-brew time machine, take a look at this 1936 Ford Deluxe. Allegheny Ludlum Steel Division and the Ford Motor Company built this and a handful of others just like it as an experiment, and to raise awareness that stainless steel had many applications in the automotive world.

Weight really wasn’t a problem or even a concern, as most vehicles back then were built like battleships anyway, and the gleaming bodywork was both quite sturdy and well-received everywhere it went. The site says they’re still around and in use at special functions to this day, which we find completely sweet.

Now, throw some mags on it, stuff in a modern 350 HP Ford truck motor and a decent stereo, and you’ll be good to go.

Stainless steel is also good for knives, the problems with stainless steel are that there are many different qualities(like steel I suppose, but far more vague and complicated), and its around 8 times the price…

Why would the weight be significantly different? I would assume the panels were formed on the same tools as the production cars – they probably had to use about the same thickness sheetmetal. T302 stainless density is 7.86 g/cc, rolled steel is ~7.85, and only the shell was stainless. The frame etc. was normal. I bet the weight would be almost the same.